HIV/AIDS in Urban and Nonurban Areas of the United States: HIV/AIDS Surveillance Supplemental Report, Volume 6, Number 2

摘要

Where persons diagnosed as having HIV infection or AIDS reside has been an important question throughout the epidemic. Along with the identification of early epicenters of HIV transmission, HIV/AIDS surveillance data have allowed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the spread of HIV in the United States and guide efforts to prevent and control the disease. Over the years, careful attention has been paid to the presence of HIV/AIDS beyond large metropolitan areas in the Northeast and on the West coast, the areas that were initially severely affected by HIV. The spread of HIV/AIDS into nonmetropolitan areas is monitored through national, state, and local public health surveillance systems. This report focuses on the geographic distribution of HIV/AIDS in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas of the United States. There are many ways to characterize and define metropolitan areas; this report uses the Office of Management and Budget designations for metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Most case records for persons diagnosed and reported with either HIV or AIDS are assigned, based on the place of residence at diagnosis, to either a large metropolitan area of >500,000 population, a medium size metropolitan area of 50,000 to 500,000 population, or a nonmetropolitan area.